News

University Experience Day - 9 August 2012

28 August 2012

Once again the combined efforts of many of the University's faculties and schools created a memorable and powerful experience for high school students from throughout NSW. The 2012 University Experience Day, established by the University's Social Inclusion Unit and The Smith Family, is a chance for Year 9 and 10 students from as far as the south and central coast to come to campus learn about university in an active and practical way.

Now in its fourth year, the University Experience Day has quadrupled in size since 2009, and the 400 students chose from over 21 activities for their morning and afternoon 'classes'. The Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies appealed to students' creative and scientific capacities in its prosthesis design challenge, while the University of Sydney Business School's 'Speaking Like an Accountant' workshop emphasized the role of words as well as numbers in the careers of future accountants. Sydney Conservatorium of Music staff introduced students not only to some beautiful instruments, but also to the possibilities of technology such as the iPad in writing songs.

Dreams and ambition were the theme of the day, with Michael Regan, NSW Regional Program Manager of The Smith Family, reminding students to include sandstone universities like Sydney in their visions of the future. 4th year physiotherapy student James Cosentino spoke to students in the Great Hall about the importance of following their own passions, despite the competing demands of parent and peer expectations. And on the Front Lawns, students added their aspirations to a giant message board titled "If I could be anything in the world, what would it be?" The stamps of the future neurosurgeons, lawyers, politicians, archaeologists and Shakespeare scholars will now be placed in the NSW offices of The Smith Family, while the students themselves return to their schools to study, more energised and emboldened about the possibilities of higher education in their future.